Transportation into nowhere
by homosexualsakura
Summary: Falling in love with strangers is reckless, he thinks, but life was always the best when it was dangerous.


Castiel is surprised when a stranger suddenly appears at the bus stop one day.

He's surprised because he lives in a small neighbourhood with only twelve houses and nobody new has moved in, and the man leaning against the bus stop sign is not familiar in any way.

It's always just been him and Mrs. Swain down the street that take the bus at that time, and she's been confined to bed rest.

So Castiel is surprised.

(Intrigued.)

He keeps his distance from the stranger in the morning, and he keeps his distance at night when coming home from his swimming sessions.

It bugs him that a complete stranger has him thrown off his routine; he always seems to be thinking about him when he really shouldn't be.

After two weeks of seeing the guy just standing there, leaning against the pole, Castiel begins to wonder if he's homeless.

But despite the stubble and duffle bag and rugged appearance, he obviously has somewhere to shower, he realizes.

Castiel begins to get used to his presence; it's strangely comforting, knowing he'll be there with his smirk and eyes that keep looking at Castiel in those brief moments between getting of the bus and going home.

It would almost be soothing if the idea of that wasn't so creepy.

**o.o**

It's Tuesday, and the weather's crap and Castiel didn't get to dry his hair after swimming practice as he was running late, and as he gets off the bus and sees the stranger, he smiles more out of politeness and exhaustion and familiarity rather than some small amount of joy at seeing him before sitting down on the bench to put his head in his hands.

The rain falls down harder, and he doesn't care that he's getting soaked to the bone.

The stranger (and Castiel needs to give him a new title, because he knows him now, knows he doesn't smoke but plays with a lighter and knows that he shaves every night because he has stubble in the morning and knows that he tends to grin broader when Castiel's in a hurry for the bus-) looks at Castiel and he isn't grinning now.

There's something almost concerned in his gaze, but he doesn't speak, so Castiel ignores it and reminds himself that he's sitting on a wet bench, drenched, and he feels cold and tired and doesn't want to move, so he avoids moving for the longest time until his phone starts buzzing and stopping and he knows his mom is hysterically redialling his number.

He sighs and stands up, hair wet on his forehead.

**o.o**

Castiel is disappointed when summer holiday comes around; he won't be taking the bus as often anymore, and the realization that he's disappointed because the stranger won't be part of his routine makes him flustered.

Why he even thinks he'll miss that is a mystery to even him.

Castiel decides to maybe head into town to browse some book stores, and once he's out of his house and heading towards the bus stop, he catches the stranger (man, he decides to call him now, he knows him well enough) sitting down on the bench, duffel by his feet and eyes glued to the sky.

It's not how it usually goes, but he's there and Castiel's just a little bit grateful.

Cas knows that buses are few and far between during the summer, so he leans against the pole that's been spray-painted and shifts uneasily and avoids looking at the man while time passes.

Castiel almost asks "What's your name?" in the naïve faith that the man will be truthful, but he stops himself and instead stands open-mouthed looking at him, feeling his skin prickle with embarrassment.

He's fairly sure a bus should have been there ten minutes later, and his brow furrows in annoyance as he sighs and leans further into the pole.

Then the man smiles a little, as if knowing Castiel's inner peril, and Castiel decides that waiting isn't that bad.

**o.o**

A Thursday rolls along, and Castiel almost manages not to think about the man- he thinks he would be a Tom- and the day passes slowly without anything particularly exciting happening.

Only, the man (Tom?) hasn't been at the bus stop yet, and Castiel is worrying for no good reason, stomach knotted and furrow between his brow constant.

At 11:16, he says he'll take out the trash in the vain hope of catching sight of the man.

He's there, and Castiel sighs loudly in relief before realizing that the man's smile widens at the exhalation.

Castiel's cheeks burn as he quickly dumps the trash, and he retreats into the house quickly, vowing never to worry about strangers again.

When passing the kitchen window, Castiel still sneaks a glance at him. Just to make sure he's still there.

**o.o**

"Gabriel," he questions one day, "Have you noticed a man around the bus stop lately?"

His brother cocks an eyebrow, shrugging.

"I haven't seen anybody, 'cept for a few punks. Why you asking, lil bro?"

Castiel frowns, remembering the decidedly real looking man, and shakes his head slightly.

"There's just a man that's been sitting there the past few months. I wondered if anybody else had noticed him."

Gabriel chuckles, eyebrows straining towards his hairline, and he laughs "There hasn't been a guy there, Cassie. Saw you takin' out the trash, and nobody was there." he grins, and ruffles Cas' hair.

The summer air is humid and Castiel still feels very cold.

**o.o**

Castiel's mother informs him that she'll be taking her husband and Gabriel to a banquet, knowing Castiel would prefer to stay at home, and as they leave, Castiel shuffles around in the kitchen, glancing up every now and then to check the bus stop.

He's become dependent on the comfort of the man always being there.

And there he is, body angled to suck up sunshine, and Castiel smiles slightly, almost thanking the deities for having his house close enough to the stop to be able to make out every feature of the admittedly handsome man.

Castiel forgets all about Gabriel's words (the man must be real, he was probably just shrouded in shadow and that's why Gabriel dismissed him, surely) and glances around the kitchen to check- and there it is, two bags of trash that need to be thrown away.

Castiel inhales deeply, steeling himself, and opens the door to the outside world and slowly walks to throw them in their assigned place- and the man has turned his head to look at him.

Castiel freezes slightly, then smiles awkwardly and waves with the hand still holding the bag and realizes how moronic he must look, so he looks down, biting the inside of his cheeks hard.

Castiel turns on his heel fast after throwing the last bag away, and doesn't notice the man amusedly waving back.

**o.o**

Castiel never does much on Saturdays, so when night finally comes around and his parents and Gabriel are asleep or otherwise occupied, Castiel sneaks out to stand on the lawn and look at the stars.

He notices the man on the bench doing the same thing, and without thinking clearly, he walks over to stand beside him.

The man doesn't seem to notice or care, so Castiel simply murmurs "Have you found any constellations?"

The man shakes his head, leaning back and closing his eyes.

"No constellations tonight," he drawls, and Castiel _feels _the deep tones of his voice skittering over his skin. "Think I found something better," the man says, and Castiel remembers the night vividly as he goes to sleep.

**o.o**

(Castiel never did ask what he meant by that.

He thinks he didn't need to.)

**o.o**

"What's your name?" never comes up, and Castiel is a little bit grateful- they barely talk and the man who might be named Tom seems fine that way, so Castiel avoids asking questions the few times they watch the sky together and the three times he's taking the bus into town and back.

"What's your name?" will never come up, because not knowing is terrifyingly intimate in a way, and Castiel is a little bit selfish.

(Falling in love with strangers is reckless, he thinks, but life was always the best when it was dangerous.)

**o.o**

It's late and it's Friday and Castiel joins the man on the bench, for once; he usually stands next to him for a few minutes, murmuring softly the names of stars and rarely constellations that he recognizes, when the words are teetering on the edge of his tongue-

_What's your name?_

-and Castiel starts counting stars instead.

The man glances at him, and his voice cuts through the buzz of silence and insects.

"I don't know who you are, kid."

Doesn't say _I don't know your name _and for all Castiel knows, he does, but he says I don't know you like he expects Castiel to tell him the story of his life- the dull tale that it is- and Castiel frowns up at the sky.

"Nor do I know you," Castiel says, doesn't answer because he thinks that the man won't either.

The man grins, though, as if saying _We'll be strangers forever, but strangers that know stars and constellations and strangers that watch each other from windows and benches _and it's then that Castiel takes notice of the pendant dangling from the man's neck.

Castiel catches his reflection in it, and is surprised to see that he's smiling.

**o.o**

The man and Castiel never really talk- odd snippets of _See that star? _and _Cold out here tonight _come up every now and then, but they never talk.

Castiel doesn't know if he'd be any good at listening.

"You don't really belong here," the stranger says (states, even, as if it's a well-known fact and Castiel is an ignorant child that needs educating) and he looks leisurely at Castiel, grin tugging at his lips.

Castiel keeps his face carefully blank, says "I have family here. Of course I belong here."

Doesn't say that he feels alienated in his own home and that the nights he spends on the bench are better memories than of his own birthdays.

Doesn't say it because he can't stand listening to himself, and the man only grins and looks back at the sky.

**o.o**

His mother is drinking again, and Gabriel has run of to whatever girl it is that he's seeing at the time, and Castiel has no idea where his step-father is though he suspects it's at Katie's (Lucy, Amy, Katie, Castiel disliked them all) and Castiel is sitting in the kitchen, face set in stone.

His body moves on its own, his feet taking him up the stairs and into his room and he's changed into his sweatshirt and is out the door with his wallet in his hand within minutes.

He plans to find a diner, to sit and eat apple-pie and waste away for a few hours before heading home- but the man at the bus stop is standing.

Castiel walks over to him slowly, hands shoved in his pockets.

"The bus will be here soon," the man announces, staring at the sky without his grin. "It goes far."

Castiel doesn't know what the man means, and he's too emotionless to even try and comprehend what the man is saying.

"Feel like going far?" he asks, smirk tugging at his lips and an invitation shining in his eyes.

Castiel doesn't know what bus the man is referring to, because the schedule says the night bus doesn't come until 01:45 and it's only midnight, but he does feel like going far, so he nods.

The man grins, and Castiel thinks that the duffel bag looks bigger and the man's pockets fuller, but he disregards those insignificant facts and stares at the silent bus that pulls up minutes later.

Castiel doesn't know where he will go.

**o.o**

(There are plenty of things Castiel doesn't know, all of them involving the man.

Castiel doesn't know if he wants to know a thing.)

**o.o**

Castiel doesn't know why he follows him onto the bus, doesn't even have a clue where it's taking them- but he knows now that the duffel bag is packed for two, and that there's an empty seat right next to the man that he's all too willing to fill.

**Fin.**

**Feel free to make up your own conclusions, because I sure as fuck have no clue what I just wrote.**

**Reviews would be much appreciated.**

**Also, my first Supernatural fanfic. Just FYI.**


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